Ebert on "Life of Pi" (2012)

"Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" is a miraculous achievement of storytelling and a landmark of visual mastery. Inspired by a worldwide best-seller that many readers must have assumed was unfilmable, it is a triumph over its difficulties. It is also a moving spiritual achievement, a movie whose title could have been shortened to "life."

There have been any number of movie groups on meetup.com and other social networking sites that attempt to offer something for everybody’s taste. Some value a multitude of events, as many as 3 or 4 per week. Others boast membership numbers of a thousand plus, even though only a handful actually attends events. We’ll leave those aspirations to them.

Ciné Arts Cleveland! will instead focus on special noteworthy films sometimes not more than 2 or 3 a month. Don’t expect us to schedule the latest Hollywood blockbusters. We’ll be screening Art House, Independent and Foreign films. Our venues will include Cinémathèque, Cinemark Valley View, Cedar Lee, Shaker Square, the Capitol and the Museum of Art. We will, of course, include the annual Cleveland International Film Festival.

We will strive to be inclusive and normally not put artificial limits on attendance unless required by the restaurant. We know that most productive discussions are in groups of ten or less but we disdain unnecessary restrictions. We’ll do our best to post events well in advance so that members can adjust their social calendars and have adequate advance notice. And. almost always, we’ll pair the film with a dinner and/or discussion after at a noteworthy restaurant nearby.

A note about your RSVP and attendance: We treat your RSVP as a serious commitment to attend a movie and discussion. As such we frown on those who treat their RSVP casually. Those who are no-shows, especially without notice may be removed from the group. RSVP cancellations less than 24 hours before an event are considered as no-shows. Please be considerate of the organizer/host and the restaurants we patronize. In many cases the restaurants are actually small businesses and an empty seat at the table actually has an adverse impact on their planning and our reputation. We’ll do our best to patronize local independent restaurants when possible and practical.